


Solstice

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-29
Updated: 2006-03-29
Packaged: 2018-08-15 21:24:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8073175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: Reed and Sato collect data from the surface of a planet undergoing a rapid ecological event, while they themselves are caught in limbo. (08/26/2002)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Challenge In A Can from the Linguistics Database (Ensign/Build-up/Snow). A very big thanks to my beta reader, Taryn Eve.  


* * *

Ensign Sato hopped gracefully to the opposite bank, her feet sinking into the muddied earth. She glanced behind her.

"That's wasn't so bad," she said. "Just be careful not to step on that rock in the middle. It's not very stable."

Reed nodded at her and leapt across the small stream in one bound. The water seemed to surge in response, splashing playfully at his boots as though trying to pull him in.

He adjusted the pack that clung to his shoulders. "Can you check the map? We've only got a short ways to go, but I'd feel better if you weren't the only one who knew where we were."

Her dark eyes studied the piece of paper intently. "I haven't read one of these in ages," she said. "I think it's upside down."

She heard an audible growl tear from his throat as he snatched the paper from her hand. Sato laughed. The armoury officer shot her a quick glance. "What?" he asked warily.

Sato grinned. "I was only kidding," she laughed. "We're here."

She glanced around, noting the flat curl of the landscape. A few low-lying streams punctuated the green vegetation, not unlike the one they had crossed a moment before. Sato followed the one by her feet as it appeared to trickle up the gentle incline. Beside her, Reed gave Sato a confused stare.

"Ah." He gestured around him. "Is this it? I was expecting a dusty desert plain of some sort."

She folded the map and stuck it into the side pocket of her NX-01 jacket. "Well, you've got your plain," she said. "Just no sand. I think I like it." Her eyes scanned the rose-coloured sky, noticing the sprinkling of puffy cumulous clouds off in the distance.

A warm breeze played through the long grass until it lay flat against the soft earth beneath them. Reed watched it tickling his boots, seeming fascinated by the silent hush of the wind that blew in through the

expanse from the surrounding mountains. Beside him, Sato sighed, breaking the silence.

"Come on," she said. "We're not as close to the apex as Rilar said we had to be." Sato gestured further down the meadow and shot Reed a quick glance. "I don't think I like her."

Reed frowned. "The Veranese are known as a rather curt species. I'm sure it was not her intention to offend you. If it makes you feel any better, I thought Rilar was rather well behaved in comparison to her counterparts."

"You would," she murmured under her breath, remembering her disdain for the shameless young princess. Reed looked at her sideways, and she noticed his shoulders stiffen. Reaching out, Sato caught his arm. "This is it."

Reed looked at the large circle of dirt surrounding them, marking the point where hundreds had stood to sightsee, then at the expanse of land. The sky stretched overhead and around them as far as they could see,

and a few more clouds dotted the horizon. "Good work, Ensign." He nodded at her crisply. "Let's get started. Reed to Shuttlepod One." The comm link settled after a moment of static.

"What's your status?" Commander Tucker said firmly. "We're cutting it pretty close here."

Sato scowled. "If Lieutenant Reed had had his way, we would never have left Takor City." Reed shot her a stern look and moved away from her vocal range.

"Just deploy the beacons, Commander. We're ready when you are. Reed out." Turning back, he approached Sato.

"Ensign."

Sato studied the horizon intently, ignoring his remark. "It's starting," she said. A dull calm had overtaken the low valley until even the flowing streams were muted. From the silence, a low rumble had begun, barely inaudible to her well-trained ears, but it grew slowly, building as layers upon layers of white noise drove into the plateau. Reed was still beside her, seeming struck by the raw energy of the solstice. The wind picked up.

"This is the part where you close your eyes, Ensign," he murmured in her ear. "Say goodbye to the sunshine."

Absentmindedly, and perhaps with a hint of regret, Sato allowed her gaze to remain fixed on the impending cycle. "I already did," she said, lifting an eyebrow pointedly, "when we left Earth." The sky had grown

dark with a resounding echo.

She allowed her eyes to fall shut. The image of the darkened clouds, creeping quickly into the sky above them, burned itself onto the inside of her eyelids. A sudden gust of wind slammed against her body. It

whistled coldly in her ears as seconds passed, and she imagined herself standing against the force of nature until exhaustion crept in and swept her off her feet. She wondered if Malcolm was taking his scans as the

Sub-commander had directed, and resisted the urge to look at him. It was a wonder worth experiencing from the inside, Rilar had said. Once every 9.2 years, or 4900 days to the Veranese, the planet's three moons would simultaneously orbit away from the planet opposite from their star. Is it ecological chaos or a scientific marvel? she thought fleetingly, remembering the science team's fervour back on Enterprise. The thought washed away in the dim roar.

To Hoshi, the constant of time had become ephemeral, dissolving until she could no longer tell how long the wind had been blowing.

The mindless force of wind fell quite suddenly, leaving a ringing in her ears and a returning calm to the area. The sunshine that had pricked at her eyes and warmed her skin also had disappeared, leaving her

pupils fully dilated in darkness behind her eyelids. Whimsically leaving her eyes closed, Sato brought a deep breath of air into her lungs. She gasped, startled by the icy cold inside her throat, then felt a chill crawl up her spine as cold began seeping into her jacket.

A light touch on her face swept across her cheeks, startling her from her reverie. Malcolm blinked back at her.

"You had snowflakes on your eyelashes," he said, by way of explanation. His breath fogged in the chilled air, blue eyes betraying his intended indifference towards the gesture.

"Snow?" Her eyes finally took in the thick blanket that was quietly falling around them. A layer was already accumulating on her boots.

Suddenly, a girlish laugh erupted from her throat, and Hoshi turned her face upwards with an enchanted smile. Around them the plain was blanketed in white. She resisted the urge to throw herself down and make a snow angel.

A light tug on the sleeve of her jacket pulled Hoshi back, and she felt Malcolm's fingers play upon her fingertips for a moment. She frowned.

"You know what Starfleet would say." Sato flinched, pulling her hand back. Since the new fraternization regulations had been passed down, she had found reason to curse almost every change. Where bridge officers had once taken refuge in the gray areas, they now had to struggle with the black and white. For her part, Hoshi missed the colour.

Reed set his lips in a thin line, a mask of professionalism slipping across his face. "And you should have held your tongue at Takor City. I'd have said something myself, but as it was, Rilar almost had Captain Archer escort you back to the ship."

Hoshi glared with flashing eyes, refusing to play the game. The wind began picking up once again, and flurries blew wet against her cheeks. "I'm not the one who decided to play by the rules," she said.

He weakened under her stare, eyes blinking sadly. "I know, love," Malcolm said.

Sato bit her lip. "Don't call me that," she said quietly, trying to collect her emotions. The resonance of his voice as it dropped had sent a shiver down her spin, and she exhaled sharply. "You have no right."

The comm chirped between them. "Tucker to the away team. Have you collected enough data?"

A lump had risen in her throat. Swallowing around it, Hoshi turned suddenly and pulled the zipper of her jacket up to her neck. She walked into the growing wind towards the shuttlepod. Behind her, she could hear Reed answering Trip's query, and the suggestion that was more of a command to return to the ship.

The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow reached her through the whistling gale of wind. Reed was following her, and she wondered if he was thinking about stopping her. She would have let him.

Hoshi threw the map carelessly into the wind, scorning the dark clouds when she realized he was staying well back of her. Lieutenant Reed was a very deliberate man.

"I'm going back," she called over her shoulder, as if he did not already know. Her eyes began to water, perhaps because the wind stung them, and she wiped the tears with rapidly numbing fingers.

Malcolm said something in response. Against her better judgement, she strained her ears, but the words were stolen from his mouth and blown away with the snow.

Expecting nothing from him was the hardest part, she thought bitterly, snatching a handful of snowflakes out of the air. The harsh wind whistled coldly in response.


End file.
